Brian Stamer, Chief Operating Officer, Colorado UpLift

“Sunny has been a tremendous part of Colorado UpLift’s fundraising success by providing her expertise and fundraising background to help provide ideas and input into our actions. This past year specifically, Sunny supported our efforts on Colorado Gives Day. A large part of our fundraising success on CGD is attributed to her review, advice and engagement in our matching gift program. We doubled our day from 2021 and again, we’re very grateful for her help and engagement.”

Lisa Shook, Development Manager, College Track

“As a recipient of the Paige Foundation’s generous grants and matches, I had the opportunity of collaborating with Sunny on our grant proposal. Sunny was always helpful and offered support around how to word our proposal, what the Paige Foundation was looking for, and constructive and honest feedback. She was also willing to support us by looking over other grant proposals and offering her expertise, not only around grants but with marketing, best practices for fundraisers, and her all-around passion for serving the community by “telling the story”. With this support, College Track Colorado was able to obtain more dollars and support through grants, corporate, and individual philanthropy!

I really enjoyed Paige Foundation online workshops where Sunny shared her favorite non-profit marketing collateral, event ideas, pictures, etc. It was a great opportunity to meet other non-profit leaders and collaborate and learn from each other. What a fantastic way to serve the community!

As a new Development Manager for College Track Colorado, Sunny took the time to meet with me to mentor me, give me ideas, and coach me on what she had done in the past as a Development Director.
When College Track decided to restructure their organization and my job was eliminated, she continued to support me to apply for positions in Development and I was able to obtain a job with Mile High United Way as the Major Gifts Manager!

Sunny’s passion for serving the community, her overall knowledge, genuine concern, and her ability to connect people have been an invaluable service to me as I have served the community. Thank you, Sunny, for spreading your wealth of knowledge and continuing to make a HUGE difference in the community we live, work, and play!”

Kimberlee Sia, President & CEO at Colorado “I Have A Dream” Foundation

“I had the opportunity to receive coaching and support on all things fundraising from Sunny for approximately two years. Her expertise in fundraising best practices made a world of difference for the organization I led. From her thought partnership around improving the organization’s communication to mapping out what we needed to do to set up a solid monthly giving campaign, I developed my skills while at the same time bringing in additional funds to the organization.

When I worked with Sunny, the organization steadily increased its annual revenues and ended the year in the black. In the most recent fiscal year, we are on track to exceeding our fundraising goal for the first time since I began working with Sunny. I attribute this fundraising success to the strategies I learned while working with her.

Sunny’s support was also vital in the long-term financial sustainability of our organization. Through Sunny’s coaching, I built my skills in identifying and securing multi-year gifts that ensured the organization entered each new fiscal year with a better sense of funds already secured and funds that still needed to be raised.

I highly recommend Sunny to anyone looking to develop their fundraising skills. It was an incredible learning experience for me and highly beneficial to our organization.“

Bailey Pattison, Communications Officer, Denver Kids

“Sunny’s coaching has helped me grow tremendously as a communications professional in fundraising. Being new to Colorado, Colorado Gives Day felt like a whole new ballgame, but Sunny brought clarity and structure to both my Colorado Gives Day and year-end strategies. Her passion for fundraising is contagious and made brainstorming feel effortless. I especially value the examples she shares of strategies and language that work well.”

Dwight Clasby, former Executive Director of the Community College of Denver Foundation

“I had the pleasure of working with Sunny for fourteen months.  Sunny is passionate about helping students achieve their educational goals and being sure they have the resources and support to be successful beyond college. Her caring nature and genuine personality are greatly appreciated by the students she supports. If you are looking to partner with someone to help with your philanthropy and/or scholarship program, I highly recommend visiting with Sunny and the Paige Foundation.”

Zoe Devito, Director of Development and Communications, VIA

“Thank you so much for your continued support and coaching. I’m especially grateful for the direct feedback you’ve shared. It will help make our team stronger and more effective in serving our community and honoring our nonprofit mission.”

Lisa Curtis, former Director of Development and Communications, VIA

“Via staff greatly appreciated the resources and coaching we received from Sunny throughout the year. Sunny understands the challenges and the complexity of fundraising in an environment where it is also necessary to educate people about your identity as a human services organization that supports community health. She’s been a strong ally providing a variety of resources. Our staff has participated in her online training and found them very useful. Sunny has also been available to brainstorm with staff about messaging and campaign themes, provide encouragement, and review and edit printed materials used in campaigns.

Sunny and I have regular meetings to discuss our progress and plans for the coming month. I find these meetings invaluable. We have a fundraising staff, and it is important to have an outside perspective on how effectively we’re communicating our story to the community. Our best efforts happen when we show how giving mobility to a particular client profoundly impacted the quality of that person’s life. Sunny keeps our focus on making that emotional impact with our communications.”

Denise Delgado, Director of Development, Girls Inc.

“We completed our first Fall campaign thanks to Sunny’s confidence in this idea which inspired us to go forward. It was a great boost for my new team, so thank you for encouraging me to go for it!.”